"There is no greatness where simplicity, goodness and truth
are absent."
Leo Tolstoy

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Angry Canadians

Gloria Galloway reports in the Globe and Mail that hope is fading for those who believed Friday's meeting between native leaders and Stephen Harper would put an end to the Idle No More protests:

Idle No More organizers will hold their own Friday meeting for chiefs
that were not invited to the talks on that day with Mr. Harper.

And Governor-General David Johnston announced on Tuesday that he
would not be at Mr. Harper’s working meeting with key Assembly of First
Nations leaders. As a result, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, who
called for the meeting in first place, said she might not go either.

Although
some chiefs say the leaders of the country’s more than 630 first
nations are united in their determination to exert their treaty rights,
it is clear that there are divides about how that should be achieved.

There is division among native communities. But that is not surprisisng. People on the ground feel that their official representatives are no longer trustworthy They are taking matters into their own hands -- and they have good reason to do so. As Jeff Denis wrote just before Christmas:

Since 2008, the Harper government has cut aboriginal health funding,
gutted environmental review processes, ignored the more than 600 missing
and murdered Indigenous women across Canada, withheld residential
school documents from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, abandoned
land claim negotiations, and tried to defend its underfunding of First
Nations schools and child welfare agencies.

When some dared call attention to poverty, “corrupt” chiefs were
blamed. Although the minister of Aboriginal Affairs, John Duncan, claims
to have visited 50 First Nations communities and conducted 5,000
consultations, he and his staff clearly have not gained the First
Nations’ consent on the seven currently tabled bills that Idle No More
activists oppose.

Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples are the fastest growing population in
Canada. They are young, ambitious and well aware of historical and
contemporary injustices. Like others abroad, they are revitalizing their
languages and cultures, rebuilding their nations, and supported in
these initiatives by international law, including the UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada reluctantly endorsed in
2010.

Things are not over. They've only just begun. Stephen Harper's take no prisoners style of government has come back to bite him. He is about to become a hostage to events he cannot control.

The recent court decision that indians off the "reservation" are in deed indians (Amerindians, Métis and Inuit) are included in the Constitution. How did the government think they could exclude them. The Constitutional preservation of First Nation's peoples rights is rather simple reading. This decision is the "Persons" Case (declaring women as persons) for aboriginal Canadians. The ranks of Constitutionally protected Indians is about to well.

Canada owes the First Nations people and it is well past time to pay up so we can better share this land together.

On Harper's x-mas interview, he declared himself a devout Christian. Harper was Policy Chief for his, Northern Foundation Party of 1989. He was linked with Christian Fundamentalists, among other dubious links.

Harper's omnibull bill, gave himself permission to, pollute any waterways, fish and hunting grounds of the F.N. all across this country. F.N. should not have to constantly fight, to protect their food sources, from Harper's greed. Harper has no right to intrude on F.N. land, without respecting the F.N. and consulting with them. Harper is a Dictator and an arrogant bully.

Harper's onmibull bill, also gives Communist China permission, to sue any Canadians getting in their way. China sued in BC, to take the mining jobs. Harper has no right to even live in this country, let alone govern.

About Me

A retired English teacher, I now write about public policy and, occasionally, personal experience. I leave it to the reader to determine if I practice what I preached to my students for thirty-two years.